An estimated 80% of women have some type Menopause symptoms – And the more symptoms they experience, the more likely they will develop dementia in later years.
The findings were published in Journal Plos One, following a study by the University of Calgary.
Researchers participated in the Canadian platform for research in Canada and analyzed data from 896 postmenopausal women for online research to investigate health, quality of life, cognitive, behavioral, functional, and caregiving in aging (protection) studies.
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The woman reported symptoms around menopause to researchers. Their cognitive function was measured using the Daily Cognitive (ECOG-II) scale and the Mild Behavioral Disorders Checklist (MBI-C), with higher scores indicating higher severity.
Big person Menopause symptoms There were higher scores on both cognitive tests, indicating a more severe reduction.
According to a new study, an estimated 80% of women experience some kind of menopause symptoms, and the worse it becomes, the more likely they will develop dementia in later years. (istock)
“One of the most interesting findings was the association between menopause symptom burden and mild behavioral disorders (MBI) symptoms. Indicators of risk of dementia“Speaking to Fox News Digital, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, Epidemiology and Pathology at the University of Calgary and Chief Research Authority of Zahinoor Ismail, Maryland.
“These novel findings underscore the need to consider not only cognitive changes, but also mood, social interactions and personality changes that continue to emerge later in the postmenopausal period.”
“These new findings underscore the need to consider not only cognitive changes, but also changes in mood, social interactions, and personality.”
Hormonal therapy was not significantly associated with cognitive function, but researchers have shown that there is a significant link to less MBI symptoms, highlighting the need for further research into the potential role of hormone therapy in long-term brain health.
“Interestingly, participants who reported using estrogen-based hormone therapy during perimenopausal were significantly less severity of symptoms of mild behavioral disorders,” Ismail said.
“One of the most interesting findings was the association between the burden of menopause and symptoms of mild behavioral disorders, a syndrome that is increasingly recognized as an early indicator of dementia risk,” the authors of the lead study said. (istock)
Alexa Fiffick, board certified Family medicine doctor Specializing in menopause, previous data stated that higher symptom burdens were somehow linked to cognitive decline and dementia.
According to doctors in Ohio, some studies have shown that hot flashes are associated with worse cognitive function, even when they are not recognized by women.
“Vaemotor symptoms are thought to be correlated with the development of high white matter intensity in the brain, similar to what appears to be vascular dementia in images,” Fific, who was not involved in the new study, told Fox News Digital.
“We have not yet obtained data that says treatment of VMS prevents cognitive decline, but we hope to see menopause. Hormonal therapy Additionally, other non-hormonal options may be able to retrieve this data in the near future. ”
Potential limitations
The researchers acknowledged some limitations on the study.
“This research is cross-sectional, meaning it captures snapshots in time, rather than tracking changes over the years,” Ismail told Fox News Digital.
Several studies have shown that hot flashes are associated with worse cognitive function even when they are not recognized by women. (istock)
This means that we can only identify the association between menopause symptoms and cognitive and behavioral health, but we cannot determine whether symptoms directly cause changes Brain health.
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“To better understand the long-term impact of menopause on the risk of dementia, future research should follow participants over time and incorporate biological data such as hormone levels and brain-related biomarkers (in fact, this is doing this now),” Ismail added.
The severity of symptoms was not evaluated in this study and could play an important role in understanding risk.
“This study only strengthens that menopause is just as neurologically altered as it is hormones.” (istock)
Another limitation is that this study focused on the most commonly reported menopause symptoms, but it is possible that some participants experienced additional symptoms.
“In fact, it has been reported that there may be more than 30 symptoms that women may experience when undergoing a menopause transition,” Ismail said. “We have included the ‘other symptoms’ category, but may not fully reflect the scope of our experience. ”
This study did not distinguish between different types and hormonal therapy formulations.
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“Future research “We can investigate whether certain types of HT have different effects on brain health,” Ismail said.
“Brain scans in women during menopause reveal real structural and metabolic changes, and this study reinforces the inability to rule out these symptoms as “normal aging.” ”
Tamsen Fadal, a New York menopause expert and author of the upcoming book How to Menopause: Responsible for Your Health, Regain Your Life and Feel More Than You Previously, said he was not surprised by the results of the study.
“Studies have been pointing out this connection for a while,” she told Fox News Digital. “Brain scans in women during menopause reveal real structural and metabolic changes, and this study reinforces the inability to simply brush up on these symptoms. “Normal aging.”“
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“For too long, women have experienced brain fog, memory revocation, mood changes. Many of us have been rejected,” Fadal continued.
“This study only strengthens that menopause is just as neurologically altered as it is hormones.”
